2015 RCF Mock Draft - End of Round 3

[Randolphkeys]

With the 93rd Pick, the Colts select:

Jaquiski Tartt - SS - Samford

Pro Day Results

40-yard dash: 4.53 and 4.47 seconds
Vertical jump: 33 inches
Broad jump: 10 feet, 3 inches
Short shuttle: 4.29 seconds
3-cone: 7.03 seconds
Bench: 13 reps of 225 pounds

Analysis

Strengths

Well-built with impressive overall size. Gets downhill quickly from high safety to mix it up in run support. Takes good angles to ball carriers and is an aggressive tackler. Willing to play through pain and compete. Fierce competitor. Plays with confident, clear eyes to diagnose and handle his responsibilities. Attacks the ball at point of catch to disrupt wide receiver and dislodge the pass.

Weaknesses

Gets caught staring into backfield as a single high safety. Will let post routes get behind him and doesn't feature recovery speed to get back into that play. Becomes over-aggressive in space and will overrun tackles. Limited man-cover ability.

Why?

"The 2015 safety class is a unique one, and the consensus in the media seems to be that Landon Collins is the best of them all. But two college scouting directors I spoke to this week have Samford's Jaquiski Tartt rated as their top safety—and these are teams with a legitimate need at strong safety."

--Matt Miller

The Colts have one shut-down corner, but at safety they have 34 year old former Brown Mike Adams and not much else. Tartt was a basketball player in high school until his senior year, tried out for wide receiver, but due to injuries was moved to safety. It quickly became clear his future is at safety. At Samford he played free safety, but his big hits and still developing understanding of the position leads scouts to project him at strong safety until he gets a better feel for reading quarterbacks. He has huge upside for a Colts defense that lacks run support and defensive backs.

 

[AZ_]

The Green Bay Packers select:

Ramik Wilson - LB - Georgia

Analysis:

The Packers add some athleticism to their linebackers and someone who could work his way into the starting lineup early in his career.

Really underrated prospect, and wouldn't be surprised to see him go earlier than this in a few weeks.

See ball, get ball type of LB who will develop well under good coaching to use his athleticism to his advantage and get better at sifting through the blockers to make plays.

STRENGTHS: Well-put-together size for the position with good bulk and length. More than enough speed and pursuit skills. Athletic enough to flip and run down the seam with pass-catchers, positioning himself well downfield. Comfortable and coordinated in his drops. Smooth lateral movements, staying balanced on the move with natural change of direction skills. Nice job mirroring and keeping his pads square at the line of scrimmage with closing burst downhill. Read/reacts well to patrol the middle of the field. Heady and plays decisive. Uses his length well to wrap and finish. High-character player with reliable work ethic. Highly productive tackler with 243 total tackles the past two seasons, the most in the SEC over that span.


WEAKNESSES: Struggles to disengage and gets hung up in the trash with questionable functional strength. Prefers to go around blockers even when quickest route is to try and go through them. Too easily bullied near the line of scrimmage and in the middle of the field, struggling to keeping himself clean. Cover athleticism isn't a strength and needs to do a better job identifying keys and trusting his eyes. Often late to locate and can be distracted by eye candy. Too reactionary with suspect anticipation and needs to do a better job reading the pass-catcher to make a play on the ball. Wild angles with room to clean up his footwork. Too much of a hugger and needs to be more of a striker. Suffered a concussion during summer 2014.



@TheLand1287 is up next.

 

[TheLand1287]

With the 95th overall pick in the RCF Mock Draft... the Seattle Seahawks select Ty Montgomery, WR, Stanford.

STRENGTHS: Top athlete when healthy. Well-built with long arms, broad shoulders and a thick lower half. Appears well-suited to making the jump to the NFL. Quickly accelerates to leave defenders in his wake and is very aggressive, bursting upfield and fighting through arm tackles to generate positive yardage rather than dancing to avoid contact. He shows good hand-eye coordination to pluck the ball out of the air. Flashes toughness to take the big hit. Comes from a pro-style offense and program with exceptional academic standards, should be able to handle an NFL playbook.

WEAKNESSES: Like a lot of players with a rocked-up build, doesn't possess ideal lateral agility and flexibility, making him a bit straight-linish. Average explosion out of his breaks, perhaps one of the reasons why most of his damage came on vertical or quick screens. Allows too many passes to get to his pads, resulting in some ugly drops in which the ball simply goes right through his fingers. Accelerates fluidly and impressively for a man of his build but there is some question as to his pure speed.

Why the pick?: The Seahawks didn't have a first rounder. Cornerback Eric Rowe was too good of a value at a position of need to pass up on in Round 2. So, Round 3 was all about upgrading a WR core that featured a practice squader in Chris Matthews as their top WR in the most important game of the year last year. Jimmy Graham obviously gives them the best receiving TE in the game, but other than Matthews the WR names on the depth chart include Doug Baldwin, Paul Richardson, and Jermaine Kearse. Bummer that Tyler Lockett or Rashard Greene didn't slip a few more spots, but you can live with Montgomery in this range. He's a local kid who fits the strengths of Russell Wilson and the Seahawks passing game.

 

[Soda]

With the 96th pick in the 2015 RCF NFL Mock Draft,

the New England Patriots select...

TJ Yeldon, RB, Alabama

• 6'1" HEIGHT
• 31 5/8" ARM LENGTH
• 226 LBS. WEIGHT
• 9" HANDS

OVERVIEW
2014: Second-team All-SEC. Played in 13 games, 10 starts. 2013: First-team All-SEC. Played in 12 games with 11 starts. 2012: All-Freshman SEC selection. Played in 12 games with 10 starts. First Alabama true freshman to rush for

1,000 yards while backing up Eddie Lacy.

PRO DAY RESULTS

40-yard dash: 4.52 and 4.53 seconds

ANALYSIS

STRENGTHS
Has good size with room on his frame to add more bulk. Exceptional hips and foot quickness, using both to weave and dart through the trash between tackles. Quick, decisive reads on zone plays. Has ankle flexion to dip, one-cut and burst through second level and into the third. Creative runner showing innate feel for running lanes. Anticipates creases that are developing and makes himself skinny to squeeze through. Effortless lateral movement. Can make tacklers miss and change tackle angles in confined quarters. Above average out of backfield and after the catch. Productive when playing through pain.

WEAKNESSES
Upright runner in space, opening himself and the ball up to big hits. Pad level too high at point of collision. Mediocre power for size. Doesn't push the pile and won't run through many tackles. Pass protection lacking. Throws shoulder at pass rusher rather than squaring up and taking on with good posture. Tends to bounce and juke a little too long at the second level. Must improve ball security after fumbling 10 times over 576 career carries. Needs to improve willingness to keep play flowing play-side rather than over-thinking cutbacks.

DRAFT PROJECTION
Round 2 or 3

NFL COMPARISON
Terrance West

BOTTOM LINE
Instinctive, athletic running back who has the foot quickness to create for himself when lanes constrict or blocks are missed. Yeldon lacks the ball security, top-end speed and desired tackle breaking to be a full-time starter. He's a versatile, rotational back with the ability to step in and step up.

Why New England?:
As the focus of the draft was the trenches for the first couple of rounds, I have acquired a skill position player for this team. They just let Ridley & Vereen go. Blount will carry some of the load, but he's not an every down back. This seems like a perfect fit for Yeldon, who won't be asked to carry too much of the load while he learns to protect the ball and the passer. If he's available here and Saban has anything good to say about Yeldon, it'll be a great fit.

I'm still up with the 97th pick. Just a few moments.

 

[Soda]

With the 97th pick in the 2015 RCF NFL Mock Draft,

the New England Patriots select....

Chris Conley, WR, Georgia

​

• 6'2" HEIGHT
• 33 3/4" ARM LENGTH
• 213 LBS. WEIGHT
• 9 7/8" HANDS

OVERVIEW
In 2014, led team in receiving yards and touchdowns. In 2013, played in 11 games with 9 starts while missing two games with an ankle sprain. Led wide receiving corps in receptions and yards. Had five catches in five straight games before his injury. In 2012, finished second on the team with six touchdowns. Selected as SEC representative to serve a two-year term on the NCAA Student Athlete Advisory Committee. Inducted into Georgia's Student Athlete Leadership Academy. Wrote and directed his own Star Wars fan film featuring Georgia teammates, students and head coach Mark Richt.

ANALYSIS

STRENGTHS
Smooth in his routes and lulls cornerbacks to sleep before hitting sneaky second gear to gain separation over the top. Accelerates through deep balls. Does good job of stemming routes. Can get open on corner route from the slot. Quick to find ball in flight and make adjustments to seal the deal. Hands-catcher who snatches away from his body. Runs sharp, in-breaking routes to maintain separation from lurking safety. Ran a variety of routes at Georgia. Recognizes how to plant his flag in open spaces for quarterback to find him. Gets feet inbounds when catching near sideline and end zone.

WEAKNESSES
Needs to add more polish to his routes to open wider throwing windows. Can be redirected and thrown off course by press coverage. Takes time to ramp back up to desired play speed when defenders get hands on him. Won't flash the desired quickness and foot speed to get himself open underneath. Won't light it up after the catch. Dropped way too many throws during drills at the combine.

SOURCES TELL US
"As soon as he popped those numbers at the combine, I promise you that everyone went scrambling for his tape. Hard to tell if he's a workout warrior or an NFL starter after you watch his tape. He's going to get drafted high based on those numbers though." - AFC offensive coordinator

BOTTOM LINE
Tall receiver who showed off blazing speed and explosiveness in the combine. Conley displays a natural feel for the position and has hand strength and body control to make tough, contested catches. Lacked gaudy numbers in run-heavy Georgia offense, but his productivity per catch will certainly be noticed by NFL teams. Issues with catching the ball consistently at the combine raised some eyebrows.

My Take:

Conley is a perfect guy to supplement the WR corps with. Conley can blow the lid off of NFL defenses and help space things out underneath and up the seam for Gronk, Edelman and even Amendola. Something tells me that he'll mesh well under the leadership in New England.

@Walter White and the Kansas City Chiefs are up next with the 98th pick.

 

[AZ_]

With the 97th pick in the 2015 RCF NFL Mock Draft,

the New England Patriots select....

Chris Conley, WR, Georgia
​

​

Pro Bowler if this happens.

 

[Walter White]

I'll pick here shortly.

 

[Randolphkeys]

So do we go for round 4 or type up a philosophy/strategy recap for each team?

 

[BimboColesHair]

So do we go for round 4 or type up a philosophy/strategy recap for each team?

I'm down for round 4...I still have a glaring hole...plus we made good time on this round. Took 1 week to do it and we still have 10 days til the real thing.

 

[Walter White]

With the 98th pick in the 2015 NFL Draft, the Kansas City Chiefs select...

Ifo Ekpre-Olomu, CB, Oregon


ANALYSIS

STRENGTHS
Very fluid mover. He can transition like his hips are on a swivel and he has the foot quickness in tight spaces to match. Instinctive and alert. Will transition from man or zone coverage and become a willing tackler against crossing routes that enter his side of the field. Not a robotic defender -- adjusts on the fly as plays unfold. Uses the boundary effectively. Doesn't shy away from tackling. Competitive and won't prematurely open up out of fear. Tracks the ball effectively and has plus ball skills. Mentally tough and twitchy. Playmaking tendencies. Aggressive for size in press coverage. Has experience outside and in the slot. Projected as an NFL gunner on special teams.

WEAKNESSES
Suffered a severe knee injury after the regular season in preparation for the College Football Playoff semifinal vs. Florida State. Unorthodox defender who rarely relies on technique. Gets in trouble trying to bait throws. Spends too much time trying to read quarterback and jump routes. Scouting community down on short cornerbacks. Prefers to play trail technique but lacks length speed to recover when challenged over the top against bigger targets. Missed more tackles in 2014 than in any other season. Can get wild and lose technique as a tackler. Tape from 2014 has scouts questioning his long speed.

SOURCES TELL US
"He's tough and has ball skills. He's just being asked to go play right now but he'll get the right technique work in our league and watch how good he becomes then. He's going to be great." -- AFC South area scout

NFL COMPARISON
Alterraun Verner

BOTTOM LINE
Ekpre-Olomu's height and knee issue are likely to take him off the board as a first-round prospect for many defenses. However, what he lacks in measurables, he makes up for with production, natural ability and confidence. He might lack the size teams want from an outside cornerback, but he's more than capable of playing in the slot and playing press, off or zone effectively. Unfortunately for Ekpre-Olomu, the knee injury could hurt his draft stock.

Reason for pick:

Cornerback is sort of a major need for the Chiefs now, especially since Sean Smith will be suspended a few games and is the only decent CB we have. And he will be a free agent next year. There were many CB's I debated on picking, but at this point I like the potential of Ekpre-Olomu and think he could be a great player.

 

[Walter White]

Oh and @Witness_JJ is on the clock.

 

[Otsego Mar]

I'm in for 4th.

 

[Randolphkeys]

I'd be happy to continue into the 4th as the official fill-in guy. If @dkbldev doesn't want to continue with Indy, I'll keep it going. If @Stark is sick of the Washington gig, I'll jump in on that as well.

 

[Witness_JJ]

With the 99th pick in the 2015 NFL draft, the Cincinatti Bengals select Tyler Kroft, Tight End, Rutgers.
GRADE
5.33

Tyler Kroft (TE)
HT: 6'5" WT: 246LBS.

POSITION: TE

SCHOOL: Rutgers

ARM LENGTH: 33"

HANDS: 9 5/8"


Overview
Three-year starter in high school, playing tight end his sophomore and junior years before moving to wide receiver as a senior. Was an All-Southeastern Pennsylvania selection and three-star recruit according to Rivals.com and Scout.com. Took a redshirt year in 2011 and played in 11 games getting one start in 2012. Was a member of the Big East All-Academic Football team. In 2013, was named first-team All-America after finishing with 43 catches for 573 yards and four touchdowns. Took on more blocking responsibilities and was used as move tight end in 2014. Sprained his ankle in Dec. 26 bowl game and received rehab in order to be ready for combine. During medical exams, ankle was re-injured and was unable to participate. Ran 4.67 40-yard dash at his pro day with a 10-foot broad jump.


Pro Day Results

40-yard dash: 4.75 seconds
Vertical jump: 34 inches
Broad jump: 10 feet
20-yard short shuttle: 4.5 seconds
Three-cone drill: 7.18 seconds


COMBINE STATS

• BENCH PRESS: 17 REPS

ANALYSIS
Strengths
Above-average athleticism for the position. Quick release off the line and gets into routes with good play speed. Able to get yards after catch with quickness and some thump as a runner. Played from slot in 2013 and more in-line in 2014. Has speed and athleticism to threaten the deep middle. Tenacious blocker. Handled Michigan State DE Shilique Calhoun as run blocker. Blocks with good base and sustains blocks with strong hands. Not content to stalemate -- wants to win the play as blocker. Able to handle himself in pass protection using adequate footwork and technique. Played under Ron Prince and Brian Angelichio, who are now NFL tight end coaches.

Weaknesses
Appears on tape to have a limited catch radius. Too content to be body-catcher. Allows throws to get on top of him. Struggled with inconsistency on contested catches over the middle. Looked mechanical in his routes in 2014 compared to 2013. Needs to improve on spacial awareness against zone and work to clean spaces. Still learning to take more efficient angles to the second level as a run blocker.

Draft Projection
Round 3 or 4

NFL Comparison
Travis Kelce

Bottom Line
Tall, athletic tight end with the frame to add more muscle and the athleticism to get open in space. Kroft is an aggressive blocker who can help the running game win on the edges, but he also possesses the quickness to get open in space and make a play after the catch. Kroft's size, athleticism and competitiveness as a blocker make him a scheme fit for most offenses and he could be one of the top tight ends to come from this draft class.

That concludes the end of Round 3

 

[BimboColesHair]

With the 99th pick in the 2014 NFL Draft the Cincinnati Bengals select Clive Walford, Tight End, The U.

GRADE
5.51
Clive Walford (TE)
HT: 6'4" WT: 251LBS.

POSITION: TE

SCHOOL: Miami

ARM LENGTH: 34"

HANDS: 10 1/4"


Overview
Selected to play in the 2015 Senior Bowl. In 2014, named third-team AP All-American, second-team All-ACC and was a Mackey Award finalist. Had multiple receptions in 11 of his 12 games including a 127-yard performance against Florida State. Injured meniscus in final game of the season requiring surgery and forcing him to miss his bowl game. Made 12 starts in 2013 finishing second on the team in receptions with 34. In 2012, caught 25 passes for 451 yards and four touchdowns. Caught at least one pass in 10 of 12 games as a redshirt freshman in 2011. Didn't start playing football until his senior season of high school earning All-Palm Beach County honors. Averaged 13 points and 15 rebounds per game his junior season at Glades Central.


COMBINE STATS

• 40 YARD DASH: 4.79 SEC
• BENCH PRESS: 20 REPS
• VERTICAL JUMP: 35.0 INCH
• BROAD JUMP: 120.0 INCH
• 20 YARD SHUTTLE: 4.57 SEC

ANALYSIS
Strengths
Becoming a very reliable blocker. Is tough enough and physical enough to be a play-side blocking tight end on zone runs. Bends and explodes from hips into his targets and sustains with a good base. Will drive smaller linebackers off the line of scrimmage in run game. Has lined up in-line, slot and as an H-back. Has the physical build and enough quickness to threaten the seam. Turns head and locates the ball quickly. Can make contested catches. Has NFL run-after-catch ability. At home in a physical matchup. Has long arms and big hands.

Weaknesses
Focus drops were a big problem for Walford from 2012-2013 (10 drops). Needs work in sinking hips into breaks. Will round off out routes and allow defender angles to break on the pass. Scouts say his play speed has been inconsistent and there are questions about what his timed speed will be. Not the same factor in run blocking when asked to play move-tight-end role.

Draft Projection
Round 3

NFL Comparison
Dwayne Allen

Bottom Line
A combo tight end who can help a team in the running game and through the air, Walford can be moved around the field. He lacks the elite athletic traits to be a game-changer at the position, but he is becoming a premium blocker. With teams looking for versatile TEs to create matchups in two-TE sets, Walford's stock should be high.

That concludes the end of Round 3

He already went